


Give Them Something to Talk About

by WakeUpDreaming



Series: Holla to the Holidays: December 2015 Collection [8]
Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mortal, F/F, egg nog, holiday fluff, holiday parties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 14:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5421299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Piper watches people walk in, but the first one to catch her eye is the redhead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Them Something to Talk About

Piper had begged and pleaded with her father to do literally anything but his annual Christmas party this year. Anything.

“Your friends are painfully boring,” she tried to explain as kindly as possible. “And they try to ask me about college. I don’t want to talk about college. I’m on break. I don’t want to think at all.”

But her dad had been completely inflexible, which is how she found herself chugging egg nog in a long, low cut forest green dress against the snack table.

“Dear diary,” she grumbles to herself, “today I did absolutely nothing and ignored everyone at a party I didn’t want to be at.”

She manages to grab the bottle of rum from the bar, though, and dumping nearly half of it into her personal pitcher of egg nog is making things a lot better.

“Hot,” she says as a younger couple walks in and goes right to Tristan’s producers, “hot,” as a mid-thirties guy with vertical hair walks in, “creepy,” as a sixty year old director walks in with a girl maybe two years older than her. She sets her drink down, though, when a girl walks in with the guy who runs Dare Industries. She has to be his daughter – same fire red hair, same striking features.

But her expression is more similar to Piper’s than to anybody else’s there.

Piper watches the girl, dressed in black which only makes her hair look even brighter as it cascades down her pale skin. Piper swallows and drinks a little more egg nog to steady herself.

She looks in Piper’s direction and their eyes meet. The grin on the girl’s face can’t be a mistake.

Piper fill another glass and walks toward the girl.

“Can’t imagine you’ll have any fun at this party sober,” Piper says, holding out the glass to the girl.

“Oh, I don’t drink,” she says, deadpan. Then she bursts into laughter. “Can’t believe I said that with a straight face. Hit me with the booze before somebody tries to talk to me.”

Piper hands her the glass and the girl takes it. “I’m Rachel,” she holds her hand out. “Rachel Dare.”

“I guessed,” Piper says, shaking her hand. “I’m Piper McLean.”

Rachel’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really,” she says. “Well I’m lucky to have found the hostess before anybody else got to you.”

Piper hopes she’s reading the vibe right, because if this girl is as gay as she is this party might actually be fun.

They slowly fade out the eggnog for rum and cokes that are mostly rum, and Piper finds that Rachel is her but a redhead.

“And so,” Piper adds, “the PA on the movie had to literally chase me around the set because they were so afraid I was going to ruin the movie, but because I had the ear plugs in I couldn’t hear what they were saying.”

Rachel throws her head back as she laughs, resting her hand on Piper’s arm. “God, I can’t believe how stupid these people can get. Like, deluded much?"

Piper nods. "As much as I hate to admit that I'm the legacy of rich people, I don't feel like it. I keep trying to not be seen as Tristan's kids but people don't leave me the hell alone."

"Ugh, the photographers," Rachel groans. "Like it's not bad enough to be the kid of a one percenters.” She doesn’t move her hand much other than to grip Piper's arm. “I live in a shitty Brooklyn one bedroom and I barely make rent, and I still won’t take my dad’s money if it means I can pretend I've got some anonymity." She sighs. "Doesn't work though. I’m way off campus but even so, they get me on camera."

Piper groans. “I would have been perfectly happy going to a state school in Iowa, but no, Dad wanted me at his absurdly expensive alma mater twenty minutes away. Because it was," she puts up her air quotes, "good for image.”

Rachel rolls her eyes. “Sometimes I just want to piss my dad off really good, you know? Give something for the paps to say about me other than ‘Dare daughter refuses legacy, becomes mindless artist.”

“Tell me about it,” Piper says. She looks up and grins. “Do you mean that?”

“Hell yeah,” says Rachel. “What are you thinking?”

Piper points up. “Mistletoe. Want to give them a show?”

Rachel responds by putting a hand on Piper’s neck and pulling her in, kissing her deeply.

Piper’s glad that Rachel’s dress has a slit in it, because if it didn’t it would have been hard to wrap Rachel's leg around Piper's hip.


End file.
